Return of the Dodecanese

The Return of the Dodecanese occurred on 24 October 1959 when the government of the United Kingdom returned the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea to the control of the Greek government. The islands had become a British military protectorate in the aftermath of World War II, and the islanders were allowed to run their own civil affairs, leading to the islands being informally united with Greece under Italy's peace treaty with the Allied Powers in 1947. Turkey objected to the transfer, as it desired the islands as well, but the United States was wary of Soviet pressure on Turkey, as well as the possibility to the USSR gaining a Mediterranean Sea base as it had wished. The return of the Dodecanese to Greece ended 740 years of foreign rule on the islands, and the British armed forces withdrew from the islands in 1959.